But during the trip, she hardly spoke with him. In fact, she hardly spoke with anyone in the group. She would just follow us quietly to whereever we went, like a little
stray cat. Though she spent most of her time sitting on the wooden
steps that led to the beach, gazing vacantly at the blue ocean.

Is though the right option in the sentence above? Is it common to use it that way? Or should I use something else instead?

Are you writing this or did you find this somewhere? 'Though' is not your problem; the sentence in that quote starting with 'though' is not a complete sentence.
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MitchJul 31 '13 at 12:43

2

It’s fine. Why would you think it wasn’t? You still need the second half of the sentence, though: “Although she spent most of her time […], something else needs to be here too.” (There are some other typos and errors in the paragraph, too: hardy -> hardly; in group -> in the group; siting in -> sitting on)
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Janus Bahs JacquetJul 31 '13 at 12:44

@Carlo_R., no, not really. ‘Though’ in this usage is very common, whereas ‘albeit’ is almost never used to introduce a finite clause, especially not without ‘that’.
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Janus Bahs JacquetJul 31 '13 at 13:16

3 Answers
3

Grammatically, though is not the "right option" for the sentence because though is commonly used in a subordinate clause (Though I am hungry, I will not stop for lunch), in a participial phrase (Though bored beyond belief, Jonah continued reading), or as an adverb (Yeah, it was an impressive movie. A bit long, though).

A writer might take liberties and use though in the way that you have (a subordinate clause separated from its main clause by a period) for effect, especially with a long main clause and an impactful subordinate clause (Every morning from then on she would set out from her cabin at dawn to wander through the forest, enjoying the smell of pine and the sweet relief of solitude. Though she never completely forgot Ted.). This is not as common as using coordinating conjunctions in this way (and, but, or...), as you've done at the beginning of your passage. But it is not unheard of.

Alternative words might include: however, still, yet, and other concession words. Still, the preceding sentence tells us that she would "follow us whenever we went", which I presume should be "wherever". For this reason, writing that she "spent most of her time sitting on the wooden steps" seems contradictory, unless the "we" rarely went anywhere.

No, it is not the right option, and while some sentences may begin with though, your "sentence" is not a sentence!

It would be a sentence if it were worded as follows (it includes corrected spelling in brackets):

"Though she spent most of her time [sitting on] the wooden steps that led to the beach, gazing vacantly at the blue ocean, she gradually came out of her shell and began talking to us in very short sentences."

If you want to start a sentence with though, make sure you complete the thought you started with though.

"Though I was not inclined initially to attend the party, I decided at the last minute to go, if only to get a free meal."

"Though reluctant, I acceded to her request."

"Though retired, he kept busy with his hobbies."

This kind of sentence structure works well when you are contrasting two different ideas side-by-side. As you can tell from my examples, after the "though" section of the sentence it is good to insert a personal pronoun. The following sentence, for example, would not be correct:

"Though retired, his hobbies kept him busy."

This sentence gives the impression the man's hobbies retired, and not the man himself!